Esther de Lange (PPE-DE). - (NL) Mr President, I too should like to add my thanks to the Court of Auditors for the presentation of the annual report and the Commission for its reaction to it. Despite the positive noises on the bookkeeping side, we are actually facing the very situation we did in previous years. It is true that action has been taken in the area of cohesion, including via the European Commission action plan, and the error rate has decreased slightly from 12% to 11%, but this is less than satisfactory, obviously. A twofold picture is emerging where agriculture and other major debit entries on the budget are concerned. Agricultural policy’s own error rate is under the critical limit of 2%, not least thanks to the integrated control system. I do believe, though, that we should mete out stricter penalties for those countries that have failed to carry out this integrated control system effectively for more than ten years, and that we should do this by means of progressive financial corrections.

In rural development, on the other hand, the picture is less rosy. This was to me, as Mr McGuinness has already pointed out, a clear appeal to the Council of Ministers for Agriculture, who met recently, not to move too fast when it comes to transferring monies from agricultural policy to rural policy. I have since learnt that whilst the Council did not move as fast as the Commission had liked to see, the proposed modulation is nevertheless considerable.

These are the problems. Now onto the solutions. I have heard the Court of Auditors talk in woolly terms about weighing up control costs, simplification and clear objectives. This is all well and good, but both the European Commission and the Court of Auditors know all too well that the problem lies with the fact that 80% of the outgoings are co-managed by the Member States. It goes without saying, therefore, that the solution should be sought partly via these Member States. Imagine my surprise, therefore, on seeing that neither the Court of Auditors nor the European Commission has mentioned national management declarations. I should like to remind the Commissioner that, in the context of the previous discharge, he promised that he would commit to these statements, and I should like to know whether he has delivered on his commitment and how this is evident, for I have not seen any evidence. Since these declarations are a learning process for us, I think it is important for us to take a closer look at how the present annual summaries and national declarations are put together qualitatively speaking, and to draw the necessary lessons from this. I in any event take it as read that the European Commission will help us in this in the coming months.